Monday, October 31, 2011

So how old is the Boston Mini Marathon really?

Boston Mini MarathonI've been trying to come up with a list of all the winners of the Boston Mini Marathon. The project started after the 2010 race, and I spent a few minutes looking up the easy years, 1998 to 2010. After that I put away the list and forgot about it. There was no hurry; so far as I knew I was the only one who cared.


The 2011 race, billed by everyone as the 32nd annual Boston Mini Marathon, brought the project back to mind again. Winners Kevin Sullivan and Sheryl Rosen had run the fastest times since 1998, but there were 18 other years to consider before you could say whether or not Sullivan's 69:29 or Rosen's 82:10 were course records. I went back to work, digging through old Gulf Winds Track Club newsletters and back issues of Racing South magazine. With eight-and-a-half years of data still missing, I tried Google out of desperation. And found this:


This was entirely unexpected. If the 2011 race was really the 32nd annual Boston Mini Marathon, then 1980 would have been the first race. But this Waycross Journal-Herald article indicates that the Mini actually started in 1979. Unless someone skipped a year along the way, the 2011 race was actually the 33rd Boston Mini Marathon.


Of course, this discovery just creates more work. Now the age of the race is in question, and the 1979 newspaper article carelessly omits the name of the top woman finisher. You know, it may be time to shelve the list for another twelve months. The work won't be any easier in a year, but with any luck I'll have forgotten about it entirely by then.


Boston (mini) Marathon Champions, 1980-2011
Date
MenWomen
29 October 201169:29 Kevin Sullivan
82:10 Sheryl Rosen
30 October 2010
75:13 Vince Molosky
86:59 Lisa Johnson
31 October 2009
79:49 Vince Molosky87:10 Sheryl Rosen
25 October 2008
81:50 Myles Gibson86:19 Sheryl Rosen
27 October 2007
76:18 John Seppala
87:35 Sheryl Rosen
28 October 2006
81:18 Michael Martinez
82:49 Sheryl Rosen
29 October 2005
81:11 Myles Gibson
96:32 Jennifer Kilinski
30 October 2004
83:55 David Yon
91:57 Jane Johnson
25 October 2003
76:20 Myles Gibson
97:52 Lisa Whitworth
26 October 2002
84:38 Mike Posey
92:41 Carrie Weyant
27 October 2001
82:36 Steven Walker
95:24 Carrie Weyant
28 October 2000
75:28 Art Remillard
83:20 Sarah Docter-Williams
30 October 1999
78:22 Corey Cherr
95:28 Julie Carico
31 October 1998
80:25 Rusty Jones
97:01 Peggy Simpson
1997


1996


28 October 1995
78:21 Paul Hough91:01 Katherine Perez
29 October 1994
72:42 Paul Hough92:34 Diane Turchick
30 October 1993
75:33 Paul Hough86:09 Carrie Weyant
31 October 1992
77:45 Steve Carney86:05 Carrie Hunnicutt
26 October 1991


27 October 1990
79:33 Brian Murphy86:44 Donna Miller
28 October 1989
71:23 Alex Walmsley93:10 Mary Jean Yon
29 October 1988
74:22 T. C. Carroll1:41:54 Nancy Widener
1987


8 November 1986


11 November 1985
67:30 Herb Wills
88:06 Patti Sudduth
27 October 1984


1983


1982
67:48 Noel Shuman

31 October 1981
69:57 Gary Slayton
88:56 Lt. Vickie Monroe
1980Gary Slayton

27 October 197971:40 Bruce Carpenter

Got any information on the missing years? Let me know! Send an
e-mail to
hwills@gmail.com, or leave a comment below.


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